Karsten's Adventures in the Kingdom of Thailand: Week 4 BangNaa

Dear Family and Friends

This week we were teaching one of our investigators. We have met with him 2 other times and this 3rd time we really wanted to see where he was at with everything that we had taught him. We had already taught him the Restoration and the Gospel. We decided to teach him this time about the Plan of Salvation. As we taught we asked if he was understanding what we were teaching and he kept saying yeah yeah I understand. Just at the end of the lesson we asked him to pray and he said no. I asked him why he didnt want to and he told us that it wouldnt have any benefit for him. He really refused to pray. We didnt force him to pray at all, so a member offered the prayer. When we were leaving the room he pulled me to the side and told me that he didnt want to learn anymore and gave me the Book of Mormon back. I asked why he didnt want to learn. He told me that all he wanted to do was to learn English. I asked he why he accepted to learn with us if he wasnt interested. He went on explaining himself I couldnt help but think, Did you not feel anything when we taught you? I know this man felt the spirit when we taught him because I felt it. He said that we didnt understand why he didnt want to learn but I knew why. I told him,"Brother you dont want to know what I want to say, but I will say that you have your agency and you can choose." I didnt say more. There is no point in arguing with anyone, it will go nowhere. I was really sad when this man left. He just isnt ready right now. I know he knows what we taught was true.

With another investigator one who is progressing right along has made some great progress! He was a English referral from about 5 months ago. When I got to this area I found the referral slip in my desk and decided to call all of them that where in there. From the list only 2 came up and one of them was his. I called him one night and we talked for about 30 minutes about the church. He was really interested, so I asked him if we could meet. He accepted and from that day he has progressed a lot. When teaching the Restoration to this man of another faith, his only real question is, Is Joseph Smith real? This may be a question for a lot of investigators we all have had before. He is really sincere about getting an answer from Heavenly Father. As he as read the Book of Mormon he was reading from the index, (yeah the index, I dont know why.) and found a verse from Alma that said told prolong the day of your repentance. He told us that he thinks he needs to get baptized even more now. I hope that if he knows that the Book of Mormon is true he will make the connection that Joseph Smith has to be true as well. We have been giving him all the information that we can to help him study and pray about Joseph Smith. This man has a lot of faith. He still hasnt gotten an answer from Heavenly Father but I know that one will come. I have to remember the will of the Lord and its in His time and way that things will happen. I ask you to pray for this man and help him to receive an answer. This man is bringing the fire out of me! I want him to know so bad!! I am doing all that I can for him! I know that I have to be patient at the same time though.

When we were inviting this week something funny happened. I walked up to a lady who was sitting down washing some vegetables. I asked her,"Would you like to learn about Christianity?" She looks up at me with these eyes of, I've never seen a white person before. She looks at my companion and I and says"The bathroom?" I almost bust out in laughter ha. I will have to say that it is a lot funnier in the Thai language but she just might not have understood ha. I think she thinks that we were lost or something ha.

This week while we were planning it started to rain. By rain I mean down pour and by pour I mean flood!! Wow! I never thought in my life that so much rain could come down from the sky at one time and flood so much! Was I wrong ha.

Doing LA work is not easy at all! We have been working with ward members and our ward mission leader to find and help people who have left the church. We had just about a whole day that we wanted to go find less actives. I personally think that some people dont like the Elder or the Sister missionaries calling and talking to them. Some members dont answer because they see it is us calling. So we just have to go around that. We had our ward mission leader call some of these people for us. You have to understand that I dont want to point fingers at anyone or be rude to anyone. I want to help these people. Some may say if you want to help me, dont call me. Well it doesnt really work that way. I think if you saw it was Jesus Christ calling you might answer right? Well He isnt here at the moment but His representatives are here instead :) Doing work like this takes time and member help. Since coming here I have seen little progress in less active work. It needs to pick up with help from the ward members. One member expressed to me that," Oh you are working with this person? This person is my best friend!" Well have you talked to them about coming back to church or to activities? "Well, no". Do you see my point. Sometimes we dont reach our like we should. I know that we call can. I know that we all know someone we can take the missionaries to, to help. The missionaries are the problem fixers but they are the representatives of Christ, here to do His work. Can I challenge you to help the missionaries find the lost sheep? Another reason is that missionaries will move from area to area and information like this gets lost.

Something the stake is challenging members to do is to tell their family, friends and co-workers that they are Mormon. I am Mormon. The second step to a 4 step process is to tell others that there are more Mormons. Do you co-workers or friends, neighbors know that you are Mormon? I can tell you that people or members here told tell others. I ask why and they say, I dont know. I feel that they are afraid. At times yes it can we frightful and not easy. I testify that if others know you are a Mormon they might want to investigate the church. Not all but more will. The stake president told us just tell everyone that you are Mormon. Do you think that will make a difference? If you dont think so, try it for yourself. I think to when I was in high school, I never did this. I wish I would have done it more! I challenge you all to tell others that you are Mormon and that there are more.

D&C 84:110

Love

Elder Hinckley